


Girl Like You

by louisfreckles



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Girl Direction, Girl Direction Fic Fest, Mentions of alcohol, a little partying, harry and louis are both uselss gays, louis gets drunk at one point, short and mostly fluffy fic, side Ziam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:33:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louisfreckles/pseuds/louisfreckles
Summary: Harry is a first-year student at Leeds University, with somewhat of a crush on a girl who seems to pay her no mind. Soon enough, however, a little bit of school-related stuff and a little bit of partying, make her realize Louis might notice her a little more than she thinks.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58
Collections: Girl Direction Fic Fest 2020





	Girl Like You

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of the 2020 Girl Direction Fic Fest, thank you for having me!  
> The title is from the song "Girls Like You" by Maroon 5 ft. Cardi B  
> Please leave kudos and comments if you like it, it means a lot.  
> enjoy!

If you were to ask Harry what her least favorite class was during her first year at Leeds University, she probably wouldn’t say Statistics and Data Analyzing right off the bat. The only reason, however, why she wouldn’t say that, is not because that class was so incredibly, strikingly fascinating, but for other, not as class material-related reasons.

Harry was never the type of girl to let attractive people distract her from school, but Louis Tomlinson was an exception. Harry didn’t know whether it was because the only class she shared with Louis was probably the most boring class she had ever had to sit through, or because Louis was just so insanely attractive, but whenever Harry felt her mind wander away from the professor rambling on and on about something she should probably listen to in order to get a passing grade, she would end up catching herself checking the girl out. 

There was just something about her, her charisma, the way she held herself even when she was only sitting down in some boring class, and Harry knew she could have anything and anyone she wanted.

Lucky for Harry, Louis seemed to choose to wear a mini-skirt two days before a big exam they had. While not being horrendously inappropriate and revealing, it had to have been the shortest skirt Harry had seen. It practically begged the question to rise in Harry’s mind, whether Louis hadn’t gotten told off about it by a professor or summat, or, more likely, she had, but she didn’t care about it one bit. So Louis.

Sometimes Harry wished she had such confidence as to provoke like that.

That thought was quickly discarded when an elbow pushed into her ribs. 

“Keep it in your pants, Haz.” Harry’s neighbor and close friend, Kacey, whispered. Harry had a few classes with her, and over the couple months of lectures and study dates since the beginning of the year, they had grown quite close.

“What are you talking about?” Harry turned her head to whisper back.

“You were full-on ogling little Miss Sunshine over there,” Kacey gestured towards Louis with her chin, “lucky you didn’t start drooling all over your desk.”

“I was not ‘ogling’ her.”

“Right,” Kacey scoffed, “and I’m not here ‘cause I need to up my attendance. I have eyes, you know. And unlike yours, they’re not stuck to the bum of some girl I’ve never even spoken to.”

“Ugh, lay off me, Kace.” Harry leaned back in her seat. In her defense, Louis had her elbows on her desk and was leaning forward, perfectly showing off the divine curve of her back that lead down to her perky bum.

“You should talk to her.” Kacey’s voice snapped Harry out of her thoughts once again. “Maybe ask her out. You could stand to get some action, you know.”  
Harry’s eyes widened, her head snapping back to her friend, who was smiling cheekily at her.

“Are you crazy?!” she whisper-shouted, “I don’t even know if she’s into girls. That’d be so embarrassing.”

“Your gaydar genuinely works better than anyone else’s until it comes to someone you like,” Kacey said, waving her arm in exasperation, “and then even if she stepped out on the professor’s platform wearing a whole goddamn rainbow flag and yelling ‘I’m gay!’ on a megaphone over and over, you’d still be doubtful. Look at that pixie cut, how can she not be gay? Just talk to her, ask her to have lunch sometime, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

Harry just shook her head, willing herself to focus back on the lecture.

\------------------------------------------

“Hey, wait up!” Harry almost didn’t turn around when she heard that soft voice, yet she did when the patter of snickers on the marble floor of the building slowed down as it grew closer and closer to her.

“Are… you talking to me?” Harry’s eyes landed on a tan face and a pair of eyes a clearer, brighter blue than the sky over the UK could ever be. Actually, Harry had yet to have been to LA, but she was pretty sure even the skies there were no such blue. 

When Harry snapped out of her momentary daze, she was quite shocked to see how much shorter than her Louis was up close.

“Yeah… Harry, is it?” Harry nodded. “Yeah, sorry, I’m not great with names, or I would’ve made it more clear I was calling out to you.”

“It’s fine,” Harry shrugged, smiling coyly, “I wouldn’t expect you to know my name. We’ve never really spoken, I’m impressed you got it right on the first attempt.” While choking on the growing feeling that she was talking too much, she attempted a relaxed grin which came out more like a dopey smile, yet managed to receive a giggle from Louis that, in turn, made Harry feel like she was ascending from her body towards somewhere high off the ground.

Louis recovered quickly from sounding her adorable, almost flustered, high laughter, and was back to her cheeky self, her feline eyes somewhat a mixture of challenging and inviting.

“Well, I noticed recently that you seem to get quite a bit written down during lectures, surely more than I do, and I saw your notes you once shared and they seem so neat… I would be so grateful if you had something prepared for this test and could send it to me, I’m just completely lost and I gave up on trying to summarize anything to help me.”

Wait, noticed? Does Louis look at Harry specifically during lectures? If so, how come they haven’t caught eyes yet?

“Uh, sure, why not?” Harry said, eyebrows furrowed. “I have them on Google Docs, I could text you the link?”

“That’d be sick.” Louis smiled wide. “Do you have my number?”

Harry shook her head, pulling her phone out to type down the numbers Louis gave.

“Okay, great, thank you so much. I’ll see you around.” Louis said with a smile, beginning to walk away, hips swaying slightly as she did.

“Wait, Louis?” Harry turned at the same time Louis turned to look at her, smiling softly, patiently.

“Yeah?”

“I really like your skirt. Like, really, it’s really pretty. You wear it well.”

“Thanks, don’t I?” Louis chuckled, “I was actually hesitant to wear something like this. Not that I give a damn about any dress code there may be, but while I love the attention, it sometimes invites some unwanted comments. From, you know, guys.”

Harry laughed, “yeah, I mean, who wants their opinion, right?”

Louis joined her laughter, “Exactly. But, this is new, and I thought ‘fuck it, I like it and I’m gonna wear it’ and, lucky for me, all I’ve gotten so far were lovely comments from lovely girls, so.”

“That’s great, I love when girls support other girls.” Harry flicked her hair over her shoulder distractedly.

“Yeah, me too. Girls loving on other girls is a special sort of love.”

Louis’ words seemed to hang in the air, as if calling out to Harry, inviting her to something she wasn’t sure what it was. What she knew was that Louis seemed to understand something Harry felt, something that not many around her understood.

“Have you heard of this party that’s being held this Friday?” Louis’ voiced snapped Harry out of her trance, making her realize she seemed to be drifting away in thoughts a lot recently.

“Uh, yeah, my flatmate, Niall, also has a test on the same day we do and she’s making me go with her, to let off some steam.”

“Your flatmate knows what’s up.” Louis nodded approvingly. “Well, I guess I’ll see you there as well, then.”

“Yup.” Harry nodded, popping the ‘p’. Before the silence could grow too awkward, she added, “well, I gotta go, but good luck with studying.”

“Thanks,” Louis chuckled, “you too, Harry.”

Harry nodded with a smile and a “thanks”, unable to get herself to move towards her next class instead of watching Louis walk away.

\-------------------------------------------  
Harry was standing off to the side as she watched the way Louis moved on the makeshift dance floor, confidence oozing out her every pore. She was dancing surrounded by other girls, her friends, and shining bright as the sun, laughing with the planets that danced around her, and even though Harry couldn’t hear them over the loud music, she smiled to herself. Outside of Louis’ tight circle of friends were sometimes boys trying to breach it, but the girls seemed too wrapped up in their little group to pay them any attention. Harry wondered if Louis was aware of them, if she felt a certain way about that. Did she like that attention? could she be into one of those guys?

Louis seemed to not have a care in the world, and that made Harry wonder how much the girl has had to drink. Was Louis the type to get wasted at parties? Harry didn’t know her well enough to tell.

When Harry could spot Zayn and Liam, Louis’ best friends, making their way hand-in-hand out of the circle, probably to snog somewhere more private, she felt like she should go find Niall, who was probably already at the funniest stage of her drunkness, and Harry would hate to miss any of her drunken shenanigans to laugh about later.

Instead, she found herself moving towards the solar system she’d been watching, tipsy mind envisioning herself as a meteor, and wondering what could happen to a meteor that headed straight towards the sun. She could be stopped from reaching Louis by one of her planet friends, or she could make it to her and be completely burned by her heat. Whatever happened, Harry just hoped she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.

When Louis smiled directly at Harry, she felt blinded at first, from how bright it was. Then, she realized she had successfully made it into the ring of planets surrounding Louis, and her brain suddenly replayed the last few seconds, counted by the beating of the music, or of her heart, she wasn’t entirely sure. What she did know, though, was that unlike with the guys who kept approaching occasionally and became meteors that hit the planets and therefore changed their course, she was accepted into the circle. In fact, the ring widened itself to accommodate her joining, and Louis was waving her over. Closer.

Harry moved without thinking, dancing a little as she did. Two plastic shot glasses filled with something neon pink made their way into Louis’ hands, courtesy of a friend of Louis’ whom Louis thanked over the music, addressing her as Bebe, and Harry suddenly realized trays of those were traveling around the room.

“I don’t usually share when I only have two,” Louis explained over the music, Harry only realizing she was talking to her when she was done admiring the way Louis’ skin looked up close, glinting with sweat in the best way, though everyone else was probably too far away from Louis to hear her. “But you look like you need it. Here, have one.”

Harry glanced at Louis’ hand, holding out the shot for her, short, black painted fingernails standing out. Or at least Harry thought it was black, the lighting was a bit confusing. She felt like an eternity had passed where she let Louis wait until she had finally made up her mind, taking the shot from Louis, gently clinking her plastic cup against the smaller girl’s, and throwing it back, feeling the burn down her throat, along with some sweet, tropical flavour.

The two continued dancing, Harry’s awkwardness from being unsure whether she should stay with Louis in the middle of the circle or return to the background, fading away as the alcohol kicked in a bit more. She was too caught up in Louis to move away, anyways.

At some point, Harry leaned in to ask, over the music, but trying not to be too loud, “how drunk are you?”

Louis smiled cheekily as she moved closer to Harry’s ear to reply. “Not wildly, this was only my second shot. The night’s still young.”

Harry nodded and went back to just dancing. As time passed, she thought she noticed their bodies move closer, but was unsure whether it was really happening or if she was just being tricked by the lighting or something.

The fact that they had, indeed, been moving closer together, Louis practically gravitating Harry towards her, was only confirmed when the shorter girl wrapped her arms around Harry’s neck. Harry could feel Louis’ curvier body move against her flatter own, determining Louis could definitely dance better as Harry tried to sync herself up with her, putting her arms around Louis’ waist.

They were dancing closer and closer, Harry’s eyes unable to look away from Louis’ piercing, almost challenging, bright blue ones.

Suddenly, a hand appeared from behind Louis, red acrylic nails tapping her shoulder. Louis looked behind her, then turned back to Harry and moved onto her tippy-toes to whisper in her ear, “come with me to the bathroom?”

Harry didn’t think too much about letting Louis pull her to the bathroom. Questions did arise, however, when Louis pulled her in with her and locked the door. Harry didn’t have enough time to ask any, though, as Louis pushed her back against the door and kissed her hard, her hands cupping Harry’s face and Harry’s ran from the small of her back up to between her shoulder blades as she kissed back. That went on for a few heavenly seconds until Harry pulled back.

“Why are we in here?”

“Well…” Louis scratched the back of her neck, moving off of Harry. “Whenever I dance with a girl at a party there’s always guys staring at us, or... worse. Liam and I agreed that if I dance with someone, she’ll look out for me, and if any weirdo is watching she’ll tap my shoulder so I can pull them away. I knew she’d bail on me with Zayn, though, so I asked Bebe to stand guard for me as well. I… hope that’s okay with you.”

Harry took a moment to process Louis’ words. She felt terrible, at first, for what Louis must’ve had to endure, for the fact that the freedom to dance with someone she finds attractive, something everyone else seems to have, has been taken from her. For the fact that she felt the need to hide in the restroom. But then, it occurred to her tipsy mind, the restroom. They were in a restroom. The door was locked, no one was watching, and they could do whatever they want. Even if Harry were to embarrass herself now, no one had to ever know, save for her and Louis.

So Harry did the only reasonable thing she could come up with- she lunged forwards, pushing Louis up against the wall as she went, and kissed her, hard. Louis made a strangled sound of surprise, but was quick to recover, burying her fingers in Harry’s long curls and relaxing in her arms for a few moments before pushing back against her, until Harry was the one with her back against the wall.

Harry’s senses were flooded with the sweet scent of Louis’ perfume, mixed with her warm natural body scent and matching with the cherry flavour of her lipstick, combined with her warmth and her petite frame, sealed with the feeling of Harry’s own fingertips running over Louis’ mini-skirt, the same one Harry adored so. What snapped her out of her high, though, was the feeling of Louis’ tongue entering her mouth, carrying a tiny bit of alcohol tinge. Harry pulled away, breathless.

“Are you sure you’re not too drunk?”

“So what if I am?” Louis asked, her face cheeky but her tone slightly challenging.

“I just… don’t wanna take any advantage, or anything.” Harry frowned at the fact that Louis seemed to not understand. “I’m sorry, I’m really into you, like, I couldn’t even explain to you just how much, but… I don’t know how capable you are of making these judgments now, I just can’t do this. I’m really sorry. Can we just, I don’t know, dance, tonight?”

“Sure,” Louis said. “We can dance.”

However, once they have returned to the dance floor, Louis didn’t drag Harry to dance up close with her again. Harry was still welcomed as one of Louis’ planets, though, and got to watch her get even drunker than she was, to begin with. Smothered with worry for the drunken girl, who appeared not to have her mood tainted by Harry’s rejection, Harry couldn’t possibly drink anymore.

Harry had to struggle a bit to make herself focus on enjoying the party, but eventually, she had to admit it was sort of a blast. She had chatted with several of Louis’ planets, learned their names and danced with them, and even declared herself Bebe’s new best friend, which had Louis stumbling over to them and forcing Bebe to pay attention to her, a bit like a jealous kitten.

Harry never got around to seeing Niall, nor Liam and Zayn for that matter, for the rest of the night. She figured the couple must’ve left together at some point, and, knowing Niall, she probably stayed until the end of the party, whereas Harry left while it was still going on.

Harry actually left after she went to use the restroom and lost sight of Louis and her planets. She had been feeling the high of partying slowly wear down, and she was growing tired and a bit grumpy, so she figured being unable to find everyone to say goodbye was a good chance to leave unnoticed. However, just when she could see the hall getting closer, a smaller body slung itself onto her, arms wrapping around her shoulders from behind.

“Haaaaaarryyyyy,” Louis’ voice drawled from behind Harry’s shoulder.

“Oh, hey Lou.” Harry said, her voice not sounding as surprised as her words did, but Louis didn’t seem to be bothered. “There you are. Couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“So you just up n’ leavin’ me?” Louis slurred, tone growing whiny, almost begging on the next sentence, “don’ leave meee… ‘m sleepy, n’ people wanna dance wiff me, but I jus’ tell ‘em I’m drunk n’ sleepy n’ the only one I wanna dance wiff’s Harry Styles. Tha’s you.”

Harry scoffed, unable to hold back a slightly endeared smile. “I know that, dummy. Why don’t we get you to your flat, if you’re sleepy? We can share a cab.”

“Nuh-uh,” Louis shook her head, “Li n’ Zaynie at the flat, probs shaggin’. They’re very loud when they drunk.”

Harry sighed in defeat. “Do you wanna go to my flat? would that please you?”

Louis just smiled and nodded. However, when Harry attempted to detach herself from Louis, the shorter girl just dragged along with her, feet seemingly refusing to leave the ground, but her arms still holding onto Harry. When Harry moved too far away from Louis, she stumbled over her own feet.

“Jesus Christ,” Harry sighed, going back for Louis, bending over to lift the wasted girl bridal style. “You’re so fucking drunk.”

Louis just giggled as Harry carried her outside, carefully putting her down on her feet so she had a free arm to try and catch a taxi. She miraculously managed to summon one, helping Louis in before getting in herself, giving the driver her flat’s address.

Louis hummed and giggled as she fell sideways onto Harry, clumsily cupping her face with her hand and leaving sloppy, wet, alcohol-smelling kisses on her cheek, “you’re sooooo pretty.”

Harry chuckled, “You’re sooooo drunk.” She imitated Louis’ drawl, getting another adorable giggle from her. Harry would never have been able to imagine herself in a situation where she had herself more together than Louis did, and yet there she was.

And still, somehow, Louis was the more radiant one. Just like the giant ball of fire that is the sun, no amount of liquid on earth could make her go out.

When they arrived at Harry’s flat, Harry made a beeline for the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water and bringing it to Louis. Louis refused to drink it at first, but when Harry finally got her to, she watched her chug about half a liter down almost without stopping.

When she was done, Harry took her to her bedroom, helped her out of her shoes and tucked her into her bed, going for the closet in the hall to get a few covers and make herself a bed on the floor. For the rest of the night, she felt pretty much like a new parent, waking up every two hours or so when Louis would fumble around with the covers, maybe accidentally kick Harry, and dash to the restroom.

\-------------------------------------------

“Harry?”

When she raised her head from quickly scribbling down notes onto her notepad, which she stayed in the classroom after the lecture to do, she noticed, first, that everyone had left already, and she was almost the last one remaining in the classroom. Then, she shifted her gaze to see the person standing next to her, who had said her name.

Louis. Harry hadn’t really spoken to her since she let her stay over after the party. Considering how often she had been woken up during the night, she found herself sleeping in later than she usually would, and by the time she woke up, Louis was gone. Ever since then it was just small nods and tight smiles whenever they came across each other on campus, or when their eyes would occasionally meet as they went in for their lecture.

“Oh, hey, what’s up?” Harry asked, trying not to let it show that she was feeling antsy to just finish her notes and leave.

“Good, thanks.” Louis smiled small. “Uhm, I wanted to ask, we have this exam coming up-”

“I know, you’ve texted me for my notes. Actually, if I don’t finish this,” she gestured towards her notepad, “in time for my next lecture, you might be lacking some handy notes, so.”

Harry felt her entire body go up in flames when the expression on Louis’ face changed, almost looking like she was hurt. Evidently, when sass was being served, Louis wasn’t used to being anything other than on the serving side.  
“Right, sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you or anything. I just… I didn’t get some of the notes you made? And I wanted to ask if maybe you would be so kind as to explain them to me? We could do it somewhere public, if you’d like, I mean, My flat’s a mess and I bet you don’t want me in yours again,” Louis chuckled sheepishly, and with every word Harry was feeling more and more astonished to see this shy side of Louis. “So maybe we could do it over, say, a cup of tea? Only if you’ve got the time and are up for it, obviously.”

“Uh, why not, I guess?” Harry hesitated slightly. “I mean, I’d be happy to help, and tea sounds good. Today’s kinda jammed for me, but how about tomorrow? I only have one lecture, at nine AM, so I’ve been meaning to dedicate the rest of the day to studying… and teaching does help me study…”

“I’m busy ‘till, like, twelve-thirty-ish? So how about one o’clock? We could meet here so we’ll be somewhere we both know, and just go somewhere from here.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, that works.”

“Sick, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Louis grinned, eyes crinkling at the sides causing Harry to have to fight a coo from escaping her lips. “And thank you so much for agreeing to help.”

“No problem, see you.”

Much later that day, Harry was helping Niall bleach the tips of her hair using some box of dye the Irish girl had found on sale. Harry had been hesitant to use it, but Niall was persistent when she made Harry promise to help about a week or so prior.

“I’ve already bought all the stuff.” The Irish girl proclaimed. “I’m not just gonna let it sit now and have my money go to waste. I don’t have much as it is.”

“You should’ve thought about that before you bought it.” Harry lectured.

“How can you say that?” Niall asked, offended. “You know how impulsive I get.”

“Yeah, and how well this commercial ‘on sale’ bullcrap works on you.”

“Oh, c’mon Haz, don’t be like this!” Niall whined. “I asked you ‘cause you’re the only one I trust with my hair. Now just accept my flaws and say you’ll help.”

“Fine, I’ll help.” She surrendered. “But I can’t guarantee it will look great.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

And so, there she was, folding tin foil around bunches of Niall’s brown hair covered with hair bleach. She had been dying to tell someone about what had happened earlier with Louis, and figured since she had her best friend in a position where she couldn’t just jump up at her, she should be safe to tell her now.

“So, you know how after that party you dragged me to, I ended up letting Louis Tomlinson, from my Statistics class, stay over? And we haven’t really spoken since?”

“Because she jumped you but you thought she might be too drunk, and then she really was too drunk, and you were just too much of a big ol’ baby to talk to her about it?” Niall met Harry’s eyes in her bedroom mirror. “Yeah, I remember that.”

“Right, well,” Harry cleared her throat, bracing herself, “I stayed after class to finish up some notes, and she came up to me, and at first I think I was a little bitchy? Which is weird, ‘cause I never thought I’d have the guts to be like that with her. But she started saying how she didn’t get some of my notes that I sent her for this test we have, and asked me to meet up for a cuppa tea so that I can explain them to her? And, I don’t know, the entire interaction just seemed… unreal.”

“Ohhh,” a wide grin stretched across Niall’s face as she dragged out the sound, “so you have a date. Congrats. I have to say it has been a long time coming.”

“A date? What? No, no way. What?” Harry furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched up her eyes at Niall in the mirror. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I’m not. Unlike you, I’m actually in touch with the real world and I get what people are actually hinting at when they pull these things. I’m even willing to bet she understood your notes perfectly, she was just looking for an excuse to meet up with you, one-on-one. Which, is something that couldn’t hurt you, Haz, to be with someone, if you catch my drift.”

“Ugh, shut up,” Harry snarled, prompting a laugh from Niall. “One more comment like that from you and I’m making your hair half and half.”

“Okay, but would I not pull that off?” Harry just shook her head at her friend, with a fond and slightly amused smile on her face, before changing the topic back.

“So, you really think it’s a date? Do you think I should make an effort? Dress up? I mean, I don’t really know how I should go if I’m trying to impress her, I just never really thought someone like her would be into me.”

“Now, now, don’t blow this thing up,” a hand was held up in the mirror, “you are beautiful and charming, you know that. You don’t need to dress up too fancy, since you’ll probably just go to a cafe or something, but you will be flirting, so you need to dress accordingly. wear something that is just a tiny bit revealing, tastefully, to draw her eye yet leave her wanting to see more. And don’t worry about your behaviour too much, either. Just be casual, be yourself, and try to slip in some flirts as you go. You’ll know when.”

“Right. Thanks, Ni.”

“Always at your service, ma’am.” Niall grinned at Harry in the mirror, Harry smiling back and patting her back.  
“All done. now you just need to let this develop and then wash your hair. Maybe try praying I didn’t butcher it completely.”

\-------------------------------------------

“Hey, sorry I’m late, got a bit caught up.” Louis was panting lightly as she jogged up to meet Harry. Harry, on her end, noted right away that Louis was wearing that one mini-skirt as if she had somehow heard Niall’s advice to Harry and decided to take it, as well.

Harry did find a way to work Niall’s advice into her outfit, and was wearing black skinnies so tight she might as well have painted her legs black, and an orange button-down with a print of tropical flowers, that was tucked lightly into her pants and had a few too many open buttons to be considered decent, but just enough that she wasn’t letting everything out- just a peek to her white, lacy bralette. It was a signature Harry look for when she wanted things to be a little more than casual, yet still classy.

“Well, you’re here, so we can get going now.” Harry smiled softly, and they began walking together to the cafe.

They sat across the table from each other for quite a while at the cafe, sometimes relaxing back in their chairs to look at each other as they discussed the material, and sometimes leaning forwards over Harry’s notepad as she pointed out just where the thing she was talking about was written. It was a wonderful opportunity for Harry to finally learn how intelligent Louis really was. More than she did in class, Harry noticed that Louis was asking all these smart, insightful questions, some of which even challenged her, and forced them to turn to their sources for answers.

After a bit of discussing a note Harry had made on a particularly complex topic, Louis suddenly raised her head to look at Harry.

“You know, I’ve never really gotten around to thanking you for letting me stay over at yours after the party. And actually, I should probably be thanking you for so much more. Everything you did for me that night, really. I know I gave you a bit of a rough time, I’m stubborn by nature and it just gets that much worse when I’m drunk, y’know? But all you did, really, was look out for me, and I was being a bit ungrateful and frankly, immature. And I’m sorry about that.”

Harry smiled, shaking her head. “It’s fine, I’m not mad. I was, honestly, a little let down when you disappeared the next morning and never seemed to bother to actually say anything, I’m not gonna lie. But I, too, am to blame for the fact that we haven’t spoken since.”

“Well, I apologize for my part in it.” Louis licked her lips. “Honestly, I was just feeling so vulnerable that night, and in retrospect, about how I was so very open about being attracted to you, and later, when I was wasted, completely depending on you. It was… embarrassing, I’m not usually like that. I’m generally more classy about it when I like someone. But after that happened, I couldn’t find it in me to look you in the eye, ‘cause you had seen me being certain ways no one I had ever liked seen me behave, at such a stage of us knowing each other. That’s part of why I wanted to be sort of alone with you, cause I decided it’s time I got my shit together and thanked you properly and apologized.”

“Apology accepted, though it was really not that necessary.” Harry shrugged. “We’re both kind of dumbasses for liking each other and fumbling it, and never really properly admitting it, I guess.”

Louis scoffed. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

Harry chuckled. “Well, this is just a thought, but how’s about, once we’re done with this test, possibly even the night right after, we go out, on a proper date?”

The biggest smile spread on Louis’ face, causing her eyes to crinkle in that adorable way. “I would love that.”

\-------------------------------------------

Harry woke up on a Saturday morning to soft sunlight filtering in through the blinds on her window, warming her face and her bare chest, making her room, which was dominated by the color of cream, feel that much more soothing. She found out that the covers only covered her up to her belly-button, and turned her head to look at her girlfriend’s tanned, smaller body.

Louis was on her stomach, arms tucked under the pillows and face turned away from Harry, allowing her to admire the stretch of her neck and the mess of her short hair. She was covered up to below her shoulder blades, the covers following and accentuating the perfect curve of her bum, the light making her skin shine golden.

When Louis turned her head in her sleep, Harry couldn’t help but roll over, throw an arm over her and kiss her neck, tracing over the bruises left from the previous night’s events. Louis stirred when Harry nosed at her jawline, humming softly and pulling an arm out to wrap around Harry, pulling her closer, soft lips responding lazily when Harry gently pressed hers against them, moving them slowly.

Yeah, Harry definitely wouldn’t say that one class, first year of university, was her least favorite...


End file.
